Troika Progress Report

[humppa]

There is nothing new here just another reason for falling behind maybe?

That's also the impression I get from it. The reasons they give for not having anything right now are quite funny though:

After much development we are happy to report that version 1.4 of Amy'05 is nearly complete.

Although 1/2 year ago we reported that the design was already 'frozen'.

When we designed Amy’05 we did not envisage the changes that have taken place in the Power PC market, most notable, Apple's shift from PowerPC to Intel that has presented both problems as well as opportunities for Troika.

How can have Apples shift to x86 have caused any problems to Troika? If there are reasons, why not being any more specific? This sounds like a badly made-up reason.

which has allowed us to begin due diligence procedures for purchasing a design of a higher end motherboard.

"allowed us to begin" -> nothing is done yet, the negotiations might as well fail.

Acquiring the rights to this motherboard will allow us to

Nothing is acquired yet.

Also, by forming new alliances we will be able to bring the per unit cost of this motherboard down - a saving that we wish to pass on to you.

We might bring down the price down from 1200$ to 1100$.

We would like to show you photographs of our higher end motherboard but our NDA does not permit this.

There is nothing yet to see since we haven't started with negotiations yet. There is no photo of Amy'05 yet because there is no prototype.

However, we are able to show you pictures that have been cropped to conceal the board’s identity.

For several reasons, we don't want you to find out the company who produced the mainboard.

We have been down this road before, with announcements based on assurances from third parties who have failed to deliver.

...thats why we decided to do the same again and completely rely on a third party now. But that's better than to rely on a single guy who has never done any project like this before.

Amy’05 has encountered problems but they are all in the past.

Sure thing.  :lol:

Between now and then we shall post regular progress reports, instead of intermittent press releases and promises.

We will continue to delight you with empty and meaningless announcements, fluff and waffle.

[humppa]

how are you going to survive ? Who outside this community is going to put down that amount of money for an alternative platform

Especially when considering that there are two announced "high-end" boards now.
Very funny (and of course no coincidence ;-)) that the ACK "high-end" board was announced exactly one day before the Troika board was announced.

I also wonder what buyers there will be for high-end hardware that costs more than a thousand dollars while still being slow by todays standards. The target group is extremely tiny, so what sense does it make to further split it up by a second manufacturer?
I think a low-end board such as the Powervixxen is more viable and affordable.
There is not much need for a 2Ghz mainboard when there are not any decent apps and games out there.

[humppa]

And the other question is, what about a license from Amiga Inc?

This question was already asked many times and Troika always evaded a direct answer.

[humppa]

Which to me, that can only answer as a "no."

That would be too honest for Troika, thus impossible.
Another question I'd like them to answer is "Who will do the port to both new platforms?".

[humppa]

The only thing about the post I found dissapointing is no time frames and that it seems to still be in negotiation status.

TA22:
"In our business plan, we have two production runs scheduled for 2005."

:lol:

[humppa]

The thing is, before they can even approach Amiga Inc for a license, the boards must actually be available, and be selling in numbers that constitute a business opportunity for Amiga

...which is kinda weird, since that would never happen with any of the new hardware platforms. None of these platforms will be "sold in numbers" BEFORE they can approach Amiga Inc., nor will they constitute a business opportunity for Amiga Inc.

It's also unknown whether they have the money (I believe that Hyperion quoted €20,000 per platform?) so it would be €40,000 they need up front to pay Hyperion for the porting of OS4 to their two boards.

That is correct. It would be €40,000 for both platforms, a sum that is not pocket money for Troika. The Frieden brothers estimated 2 months for a port to another PPC platform, which means about 6 months in real-world time.  :-P

[humppa]

You can ask them direct questions, but don't expect a direct answer. See for yourself:

"Q: When will Amiga OS4 be available on Amy?

Regarding OS4: We designed Amy'05 from the start to run OS4. We operate very differently than many companies, and feel that fluffed up news releases that end up empty, are not worth our time, or yours! Therefore, don’t expect us to have a major news release on OS4. It would be unprofessional to comment on our business dealings, and we would rather demo a working product."

:-?

or:

"Q: Will Amy’05 be licenced to run OS 4?

We designed Amy’05 from the start to run OS 4. Just less than a year ago we contacted all the
parties involved in the OS 4 process and went to work on our project. We operate very
differently than many companies, and feel that fluffed up news releases that end up empty, are not worth our time or your readers. Therefore don’t expect us to have a major news release on OS 4. It would be unprofessional to comment on our business dealings and we would rather demo a working product."

:-?